1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an accessory, support assembly structure designed to be used in combination with a boat trailer for the efficient positioning of the boat on or removal from the trailer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Portable boat trailers have been in wide use for a number of years. However, with the increase in the acceptance and popularity of leisure boating and the availability of relatively small marine craft at somewhat moderate prices, there has been an increasing need in the marine craft industry for a boat trailer type vehicle capable of both transporting a marine craft between various locations as well as properly placing the boat in a body of water and removing it therefrom.
More specifically, the common practice in the use of conventional or prior art boat trailers involves the towing vehicle such as the conventional automobile or the like to back the trailer on which the boat is mounted to the edge of the water. Due to the normal or conventional configuration of such trailers it is normally required that the running gear or wheel of the trailer actually enter the water and in some cases becomes completely submerged. This event occurs whether the boat is being removed from the trailer at a specially designed loading ramp or merely at the natural edge of a lake, river or other body of water.
This exposure of the running gear of the trailer to the water obviously has a tendency to result in relatively rapid deterioration of the trailer. This is particularly true when the environment is primarily salt water or brackish water. Another problem associated with the conventional placement of a boat in the water or removal therefrom involves the tendency of the trailer to become stuck or submerged in the soft mud or sand immediately surrounding the edge of the body of water. Upon removal of the trailer added force must be placed both on the trailer and on the towing vehicle. Naturally, such excess force required to remove the trailer from a "struck" position increases the rate of deterioration due to the forced abusive treatment of this equipment.
In attempting to overcome such problems boat trailers have been provided which have what may be termed "extensions" built thereon and capable of being extended therefrom so as to aid in the placement of the boat or, as set forth above, the removal of the boat from the water by use of this extension. In particular, the U.S. Pat. No. 3,138,271, to De Lay discloses a boat trailer having a platform attached thereto which may be slid from the trailer. However, a review of this patent shows that it does not overcome one of the primary problems associated with the use of conventional trailers. It can be seen that use of the De Lay structure still results in the wheels of the trailer itself being exposed to the water which again hastens the deterioration of the running gear of the trailer. Similarly, the U.S. Pat. No. 3,734,046to Schmidt, while not relating to a portable trailer per se does show a floating drydock assembly wherein a pulley system is utilized to position a platform which serves to support a boat during positioning of the boat in the water and removing it therefrom.
Similar related structures are represented in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,140,003, to Horner, Chatterton, 3,011,670, and Theobald, 3,390,796. Each of these structures disclose what may be termed conventional boat trailers having some type of suspended platform attached thereto or made a part thereof.
While the patents set forth above are representative of various structures commercially available or available in the prior art and again, while these structures may in fact be workable some of these structures may include certain practical and structural objections which the marine craft industry is attempting to overcome. Such objections include a number of prior art structures being overly complex both in design and operation. Such unnecessary sophistication frequently results in high maintenance cost as well as relatively high cost of initial purchase. Such design and structural complexities are especially undesirable when they do not add to the efficient and/or desired operation of the subject structure.
Accordingly, it is recognized that there is still a need in the marine craft industry in the area of boat trailers wherein some type of accessory can be designed and structured to be attached directly to boat trailers presently on the market and now in existence. Such an accessory should be capable of efficiently positioning the boat on and removal from a body of water without exposure of the running gear or like vulnerable parts of the trailer to the corrosive environment of the water, etc.